Dr Gillie Kleiman

Head of Higher Education

Dr Gillie Kleiman is a choreographer, performer, curator and writer. Her acclaimed sole-authored and collaborative work is presented at major international venues and festivals including Sadler’s Wells, Dance Umbrella, Nottdance, Fierce Festival, and BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. Gillie’s specialisms lie in contemporary experimental performance, community and non-professional dance, and philosophical approaches to the study of dance. She is an external examiner at the Danish National School of Performing Arts, and sits on the Board of People Dancing, the foundation for community dance.

Sophie Douglas

HE Programme Leader

Sophie Douglas is a dance artist, practitioner and projects manager with interests in community dance, site-adaptive performance and somatic practices. Before joining Dance City, Sophie has taught extensively in educational and community settings across the SW, including leading the artistic direction of Coast Youth Dance Company between 2018-2021. Sophie’s passion for outreach and engagement has led her to work with a broad range of dance companies and organisations including Pavilion Dance South West, Arts University Bournemouth, Trinity Laban Conservatoire, Made By Katie Green, ZoieLogic Dance Theatre and Dorset Mind. Sophie’s research interests are centred around working in natural environments and investigating her movement practice through a lens of somatic enquiry.

Dr Ellen Jeffrey

Senior Lecturer

Dr Ellen Jeffrey is a neurodivergent dance artist and researcher working with time-specific choreographic practices. She studied at Trinity Laban Conservatoire and University of the Arts Helsinki before completing her PhD at Lancaster University. Working collaboratively with local artists and communities to generate performances, films, workshops and writings, Ellen’s work explores the capacity of dance and movement to attune to more-than-human timescales. Her work has been funded by the AHRC and Heritage Lottery Fund, amongst others, and supported by Cumbria, Lancashire, and Yorkshire Wildlife Trusts, and Morecambe Bay Partnership. Prior to joining Dance City, Ellen has worked internationally as a performer and choreographer, and taught at various HE institutions within the UK, including Trinity Laban Conservatoire, Lancaster University, and Manchester School of Architecture.

Dr Vanessa Montesi

Lecturer

Dr Vanessa Montesi is an interdisciplinary researcher based in Newcastle. After starting as a professional dancer for the company Pescara Dance Festival at the age of 16, she turned her attention to the relations between Western concert dance and translation studies, looking at how texts, narratives, and images travel across media and cultures and how contemporary choreographic practice is imbued with questions of translation. She has experience in research, teaching, and community engagement in Portugal, Canada, Italy, Russia, and the UK. She is a trustee at Company of Others and the author of Dance as a Form of Intermedial Translation.